Early history

The settlement, in a location that was already occupied, is believed to have been founded in the 8th century BC by Euboean Greeks, originally from the cities of Eretria and Chalcis in Euboea, which was accounted its mother-city by agreement among the first settlers. They were already established at Pithecusae (modern Ischia); they were led by the paired oecists (colonizers) Megasthenes of Chalcis and Hippocles of Cyme.